Workflow: an Introduction

Workflow is important. It’s a valuable technology. It is also a discipline, practice, and concept. Like knowledge management, all types of vendors claim that their product or service is “workflow” because it’s so important. It has taken the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) some five years of constant collaboration and education to achieve a common appreciation of what workflow really is, and what it is not. In those five years, the technology and deployment practice have developed and matured substantially, such that we may have difficulty in recognizing five-year-old workflow products!